Believe it or not, even the guys in the ISS orbiting around the earth on day #144 are tired of it and want to be at home with their families. I'd give my left ball (probably both) to go up in space, but everything gets old after a while. If you have 100 hours in your logbook, you cannot understand.

My point here is not to say the oldness is a problem. I'd happily fly 40,000 hours and not look back. Its just that after the novelty wears off, you are only left with the lifestyle. If you ever plan on having a family, your viewpoint will likely shift from what it is right now.

de727ups is right, by and large. Its always been tough to do this career.

However, I must disagree with his argument on this one point:

Getting to 2,000 hours to land your first low paying job, to then endure 2 to 3 years before making more, enduring more years at the greater pay to make it to a major, then working at that major for 30 years, "seems" to be a thing of the past. Perhaps I can be accused of not seeing the forest from the trees.

With today's situation, companies are in an out of bankruptcy, teetering on the edge of liquidation, asking for concessions from the labor, etc. The regional bubble has basically burst now (at least part of it), flooding the market with qualified applicants. Sure, some will leave the profession all out, but it will be a good while before all these RJ pilots are hired up into the majors...a long while.

Its sort of a balanced equation. You give up something in hopes for something else. I'd give up the nights at home with wife and family, if I could bring home all the bread, plus some. I'd even give up the money if I could have many days off and good QOL. I'd give up all of that if I could at least bank on a steady career advancement. But with the current situation, the ONLY thing that keeps me interested is the flying aspect. And my point is, that that only goes so far.